Blurred Line

At the moment I'm working on a short story that takes on an epistolary form (in this case, emails). If you're at all familiar with 18th and 19th century novels, you've probably come across an epistolary novel or two - notably Frankenstein, though that may be a bad example considering that it doesn't really read like an epistolary work.

Anyhow, writing this story got me to thinking about experimentation with style. Personally, I love experimental styles. I think they're fantastic and, more often than not, able to shed light on the way we read literature. For example, I've mentioned Ray Ogar on this blog a few times before, and that's because I'm entirely in awe of the stylistic choices he's made in his books. Additionally, books like Geoff Ryman's 253, a story about 253 passengers on a train, each one of them described in exactly 253 words, really pique my interest. So, too, do stories like Charles Coleman Finlay's "Footnotes", a tale of an epidemic told in, you guessed it, footnotes.

However, I'm well aware of the fact that most people out there don't share my enthusiasm for stylistic experimentation. Most people (and feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong in making this assumption) would much rather just be told an interesting story. Fair enough. Most of the time, that's what's most important. In a story like "Footnotes", though, I'd argue that it's possible to be as engrossed (if not more so) in trying to decode the story as you would be in following the plot line of a traditional narrative.

So, all other things being equal (ie. strength of plot, characters, etc.) would you rather read a book/short story with an experimental style or a more traditional one? Do experimental styles jar you when reading, or do you find that authors simply stylize works that are otherwise weak?


Profile Writer. Student. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Movie Reviews cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Barnes&Noble.com Booksamillion.com Read it free in PDF Format Blog Exchange Experiment Results Quality Blogs Making Light The Presurfer Scalzi's Whatever Scalzi's By The Way POD-dy Mouth William Gibson Ali's QuixotiQ Writings Dave's Blogography White Screen of Despair Quantum Miss Snark Jack Slyde All Kinds of Writing Aggressive Fiction Architect by Day, Writer by Night Stalkers Not Allowed The Y Logs Totally Unauthorized Bookslut Benjamin Solah Ramblings from the Desert SF Signal Writer Unboxed the0phrastus Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 Et Cetera Feeds Atom Feed	Thursday, March 09, 2006 - On Style At the moment I'm working on a short story that takes on an epistolary form (in this case, emails). If you're at all familiar with 18th and 19th century novels, you've probably come across an epistolary novel or two - notably Frankenstein, though that may be a bad example considering that it doesn't really read like an epistolary work. Anyhow, writing this story got me to thinking about experimentation with style. Personally, I love experimental styles. I think they're fantastic and, more often than not, able to shed light on the way we read literature. For example, I've mentioned Ray Ogar on this blog a few times before, and that's because I'm entirely in awe of the stylistic choices he's made in his books. Additionally, books like Geoff Ryman's 253, a story about 253 passengers on a train, each one of them described in exactly 253 words, really pique my interest. So, too, do stories like Charles Coleman Finlay's "Footnotes", a tale of an epidemic told in, you guessed it, footnotes. However, I'm well aware of the fact that most people out there don't share my enthusiasm for stylistic experimentation. Most people (and feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong in making this assumption) would much rather just be told an interesting story. Fair enough. Most of the time, that's what's most important. In a story like "Footnotes", though, I'd argue that it's possible to be as engrossed (if not more so) in trying to decode the story as you would be in following the plot line of a traditional narrative. So, all other things being equal (ie. strength of plot, characters, etc.) would you rather read a book/short story with an experimental style or a more traditional one? Do experimental styles jar you when reading, or do you find that authors simply stylize works that are otherwise weak? Cavan blogged at 6:04 PM \| 7 comments	Progress Mass Romantic Currently: 12k Estimated Total: 30k Cavan Radio Playlist Reading The Beggar's Opera - John Gay "Marriage A-la Mode" - William Hogarth Poetry and Essays - Samuel Johnson Listening Patrick Park - Loneliness Knows My Name The Detroit Cobras - Baby The 88 - Over and Over Watching Auto Focus: B The Chronicles of Narnia: D+ Read My Reviews Wishlist Empire of the Senseless - Kathy Acker Brendan Benson - The Alternative To Love Internal Links Under Construction Link Link